Finalists Announced for Prometheus Awards

Judges make two recommendations for Special Award

By Michael Grossberg

Libertarian Futurist Society judges have selected finalists for this year’s Prometheus Awards, which will be presented in a ceremony during the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention August 4-8 in Glasgow, Scotland.

In addition, two recommendations will be submitted to the general membership for Special Awards—one to Scott Bieser and L. Neil Smith, for their graphic novel adaptation of The Probability Broach, and the other to editors Mark Tier and Martin Greenberg, for a pair of Baen Books anthologies of libertarian science fiction.

Here are the 2004 Best Novel finalists for the 2005 Prometheus Award, listed in alphabetical order by author:

• State of Fear, by Michael Crichton (Harper Collins)—A futuristic political thriller with a cautionary theme about the dangers of the politicization of science and a courageous expose about the politics and science of global warming.

• Anarquía, by Brad Linaweaver and J. Kent Hastings (Sense of Wonder Press)—An alternate history of the Spanish Civil War, with a powerful vision of anarchism as the what-if alternative to communism or fascism, and a cast of characters that includes Hedy Lamarr, Wernher von Braun, George Orwell, Josef Stalin, Ernest Hemingway, Ayn Rand, and many more.

• Newton’s Wake, by Ken MacLeod (TOR Books)—A space opera blending cutting-edge science and political insight, centered on the head of an ambitious clan of galactic entrepreneurs who stumble upon an ancient relic on a remote planet that threatens the balance of power.

• Marque and Reprisal, by Elizabeth Moon (Ballantine Books/Del Rey)—A science fiction adventure that contrasts the ethos of the market and the military in focusing on a female soldier-turned-trader who battles intrigue, treachery and terror while at the helm of a commercial transport starship.

• The System of the World, by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow)—The development in the 1700s of the modern world’s classical liberal institutions, which paved the way for modern libertarianism, is explored in the climax of the author’s ambitious Baroque Cycle trilogy (Quicksilver, The Confusion), which has been hailed by Entertainment Weekly as “the definitive historical-sci-fi-epic-pirate-comedy-punk love story.”

---

This year’s Hall of Fame finalists includes three works first published more than half a century ago—a fitting reflection of the special focus of this awards category on time-honored classics. Here are the 2005 Hall of Fame finalists for Best Classic Fiction, listed in alphabetical order by author:

• It Can’t Happen Here—a novel (1936) by Sinclair Lewis

• V for Vendetta—a graphic novel (1989) by Alan Moore

• A Time of Changes—a novel (1971) by Robert Silverberg

• The Lord of the Rings—a trilogy of novels (1954) by J.R. R.Tolkien

• The Weapon Shops of Isher—a novel (1951) by A.E. Van Vogt

---

The Special Awards Committee, which only meets in those occasional years when a nomination has been made for a special Prometheus Award, has approved two recommendations for Special Awards in 2005:

• The Probability Broach: The Graphic Novel, an imaginative and vivid condensed adaptation by L. Neil Smith and Scott Bieser, which is “reaching new audiences by presenting a libertarian classic in graphic form.”

• Give Me Liberty and Visions of Liberty, two explicitly libertarian anthologies edited by Mark Tier and Martin H. Greenberg and published as companion paperbacks by Baen Books, “for having a positive long-term effect on the dissemination of libertarian ideas.”

Only twice before has the LFS presented Special Awards, a very rare honor—first, in 1998 for the first explicitly libertarian science-fiction anthology (Free Space, edited by Brad Linaweaver and Edward E. Kramer), and second, in 2000, to writer Poul Anderson for lifetime achievement.

All LFS members will be mailed an awards ballot by early June—the voting deadline is July 1—to help choose the Best Novel and Classic Fiction winners and help decide whether to approve the Special Award recommendations. Each Special Award recommendation will be listed separately for yes-or-no votes by all members, and each recommendation must separately receive majority approval to become a Special Award winner.

---

For the 2006 Prometheus Awards, the LFS hopes to expand the number of judges on the Hall of Fame committee and the Special Awards committee, so please consider serving on these important committees. There also may be one or two openings on the Best Novel judging committee, which is limited to 10 judges. (To volunteer, contact board president Chris Hibbert (hibbert@mydruthers.com) as soon as possible.

Thanks to all the LFS members who volunteered to serve on the three awards committees this year. Members of the Best Novel finalist-judging committee, chaired by Michael Grossberg (mikegrossb@aol.com), were Jorge Codina, Steve Gaalema, Chris Hibbert, Lynn Maners, Charles Morrison, Adam Starchild, William H. Stoddard, Fran Van Cleave, and Victoria Varga.

Best Novel judges read 14 nominees this past year. The other nominees: For Us the Living, by Robert Heinlein (Scribner); Molôn Labé!, by Boston T. Party [Kenneth W. Royce] (Javelin Press); Hostile Takeover, by Susan Schwartz (TOR); Coyote Rising, by Alan Steele (Ace); The Confusion, by Neal Stephenson (Morrow); Iron Sunrise, by Charles Stross (Ace); Freehold, by Michael Z. Williamson (Baen); Crisscross, by F. Paul Wilson (TOR); and The Last Guardian of Everness, by John C. Wright (TOR).

The LFS Classic Fiction finalist-judging committee, chaired by Lynn Maners (lmaners@dakotacom.net), considered 15 nominees, and included Tom Gillooly, Michael Grossberg, Chris Hibbert, Joseph P. Martino, Fred Moulton, William H. Stoddard, and Victoria Varga.

Members of the Special Awards committee, chaired by Bruce Sommer, were Rick Triplet (vice-chair, rick_2003@reason.net), Michael Grossberg, Chris Hibbert, Lynn Maners, Fred Moulton, and Victoria Varga.

Nominations are being accepted for next year’s awards. Please send nominations to the appropriate awards committee.